Hello.
Welcome to my branding course.

What is it exactly, and who is it for?
There are not easy answers, as there are no standards for how to see and do it.

Just about anyone in the business world is into Branding: business executives, management / strategy / marketing consultants, advertising and PR professionals, professors, and all types of designers – talking about purpose and value, differentiation vs distinctiveness, segmentation, positioning, naming, design, digital, activation, engagement, and as of late about ‘brand marketing’.

And the vast majority of the conversations are about business, marketing, and design philosophies for business success – where ‘branding’ is a critically important vector. It all adds up to a deafening amount of great content as to what Brand does, allows, engenders, causes, and enables – and how to exploit, market, sell, and measure it.

And you know what’s also deafening?
The silence about how to actually craft one.

Ten sessions to strengthen, refine, and optimize your approach to crafting the Brand Fundamentals.

Then use it in a way that can flex and adjust to how you see and deploy Brand, to your ways of working, and to your clients’ type and discrete challenges.

context, historical to current
who does Branding today
definitions and functions
Corporate vs Product Branding
strategy to market: a path
briefly, the value of a Brand

What you’ll get
An examination of Brand and Branding, as the context for the course and to provide a way to talk effectively to clients about the subject matters and their inter-relevance.

what it should, can, or must be
the parts, and Purpose
investigations & assessment
define what Brand needs to do
the Action Plan
timelines and budgets

What you’ll get
Clarity on what must be known in order to create all the Brand fundamentals, and on the nature and function of the Action Plan as the root for all brand development work.

development path & process
taglines: types, nature, role
evolution and migration
client workshops
constructs / models
enthusiasm & commitment

What you’ll get
Actionable clarity on the nature, role, and creation process of a Brand’s core and how it informs all other brand components and then everything that Brand will be and do in the world.

function and role
vs Portfolio Management
not just Branded House vs ...>
plan the relations to Brand
go to market and Tier system
presenting > pressure tests

What you’ll get
In-depth understanding of the indispensability of it toward making Brand real in the marketplace, and of the completely bespoke nature of each and every client solution.

Brand Fundamentals as root
three-part translation + Briefs
the competing professionals
personality (not ‘archetypes’)
vs clients’ internal resources
from concept to reality

What you’ll get
A clear framing on how a Positioning becomes real in the marketplace via the three aspects that create a market perception, and how to accurately doing so.

corporate vs brand culture
behaviors vs operations
internal brand alignment
values and Brand Culture
path: inform > engage > align
relationship with clients’ HR

What you’ll get
Actionable clarity on how to sequentially deploy a plan from concept to adoption, one that celebrates the presence of the client’s HR function as a partner or as an adopter.

what Brand requires from it
foundations and articulation
construct and parts
formal components
corporate vs business units
testing and deployment

What you’ll get
A clear relationship between Brand and its messages, and how to deploy a delivery plan that optimizes the clients’ internal resources and external communications partners.

how-to, vs needs and budgets
parts, and sequence options
refresh vs evolution
the Theme
the Creative Brief
timelines and budgets

what you’ll get
A practical understanding of Design in Corporate Identity, and of how to plan and deploy it based on Brand, clients’ organizational and geographic structures, timing, and budgets.

governing bodies
Standards and/vs Guidelines
depth, adoption, AI
education and training
Ambassadors
ongoing client relationships

what you’ll get
A pragmatic and efficient approach to command & control the Brand’s tenets and all of its expressions: it’s not the created Brand that counts – it’s the implemented Brand.

market and sell your services
pitches and presentations
proposals and related process
responding to RFPs
scopes
fees and budgets

what you’ll get
Nothing matters if you don’t win the work. But competence alone often is not enough, and there’s only one way that a practitioner can do ‘sales’: stop selling, and start helping.

Who the course is for.

The Course is for you …

… the person tasked with actually creating Brand Fundamentals. You may be a freelancer, or a member of a team in an agency, consulting firm, or corporate department.

I appreciate the fact that throughout your career you’ve gained your own perspectives, and that client / work experiences have informed your methods. And you may find it hard, or even unnecessary, to modify your ways of working. We don’t necessarily intend to replace them, but enrich and deepen your brand-related thinking and your craft based on how the approaches we cover in the Course will fit you, your business, and your clients.

But … I’d like to say that some of our ways are indeed uniquely different.

Who else can benefit

The Course is valuable for agencies or firms whose main purview is not Corporate Branding per se, such as PR and advertising, design of all types, digital and web firms. And not only if Corporate Brand Fundamentals are needed, but also as context for Product Branding and general communications – as a Corporate Brand may be signing all those messages.

Do inquire about how we can shape the Course to fit your needs:

for enterprises at large, we can customize it to your business, challenges, or plans;
for marketing departments and even C-suite executives who require Brand Fundamentals, whether they obtain them from internal teams or by hiring an outside firm;
for business schools or other continuing education organizations, or individual students, wishing to learn how Brand is crafted; and
for anyone who wants to know about Brand Sausagemaking.

How the Course Works

Format
The Course is composed of ten sessions, each composed of six topics – sequential, integrated, and building on one another. Q. Malandrino narrates and explains the sessions in a video recording with the help of case histories, examples, and exhibits. You can book single or grouped Sessions, and personalize them.

Schedule and Assets
You can start the Course on any Friday. Each session is posted on the sharesite every Friday, and can be accessed via a password. If you booked individual or grouped Sessions, you’ll have access at your leisure.

Exercises
As practical applicability is front and center in the Course’s governing perspective, ‘exercises’ will be given after each session. While we hope you’ll complete them, they are not a requirement for accessing the session that follows.

Interaction
The level of personal interaction varies according to what you’ve booked – the entire course, or given Sessions, and whether it’s general or personalized. We’ll provide details accordingly.

Certification
A Continuing Professional Development Accreditation is pending — and credits will be available. www.cpduk.co.uk/